Tip #166

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Load Management

Shed the Load

For facilities with rate codes in the E300 and E400 series, 12 one-hour periods per year usually determine over 23% of annual electric bills due to coincident peak charges.

Coincident peak is your facility's electric demand during the peak hour of each month, which is the hour when the most electricity is requested from Fort Collins Utilities' wholesale electric supplier, Platte River Power Authority.

Load management is the act of controlling your facility's demand, or rate of energy use. The most cost-effective way is to reduce your demand during the peak hour of each month.

Although it is impossible to predict exactly when the peak hour will occur, Fort Collins Utilities identifies about 10 potential peak hours per month.

Utilities' load management tool can help you make informed decisions about your facility's energy use based on Platte River's load status. It lets you know when to shed load to reduce your coincident peak charges.

The tool displays Platte River's month-to-date data, a 24-hour profile with details of the past 2 hours, updates every 5 minutes and shows 1-minute resolution data. Potential peak hours also are displayed, as is a summary table of the current electric load.

Efficiency Works for your business. Learn about Fort Collins Utilities' services and incentives.

Use ElectriConnect to understand how your facility uses electricity and to track the impact of any changes you make.

Sign up to receive an email or text message during potential peak hours.

Request a free digital control unit that can receive a signal during potential peak hours. It can be attached to a facility's automation system to automatically implement a load-shedding routine or connected to a lamp to alert the facility manager to manually implement a load-shedding routine.

Load management activities, such as adjusting your thermostat and shifting energy-intensive work to morning hours, can help trim energy use during peak hours and save your facility money.

Contact Utilities to sign up and receive customized advice on what strategies you should implement in your facility.